Over a year after its UK release, Mark Knopfler is hitting these shores to promote his new album, Privateering. Vintage Vinyl News reported that the album was due to come out in the U.S. at the same time as its foreign release, but was put on ice following a disagreement between the Dire Straits leader and Warner Brothers -- who were originally set to issue the album -- which is now out via the Mercury imprint.

So far, the West Coast dates will be bookended with California stops, kicking off on October 23rd at Long Beach's Terrace Theater, with the final stop on the itinerary -- as of now -- October 27th at Oakland's Fox Theater. Additional dates are expected to be announced soon.

Nearly 20 years after the official split of Dire Straits, we asked Mark Knopfler we he chose to walk away from the massive arena shows -- and heavy ticket sales -- that went along with the band's very competitive touring act: "It just becomes a bit of a circus. When it got to the level where we were carrying our own stage, and, y'know, a lighting rig from Star Trek and all of that stuff, and there's extra trucks for this and extra trucks for that -- I just felt that it wasn't me on the sofa with a guitar enough, man, because, y'know, the whole thing comes from the writing."